What The Last of Us asks of us

Unlike other debates that spring up after enough people complete a game (or any piece of media), the ones that sprang up after TLOU were also relatively unique for the medium. We don’t, for example, wonder if some character lived or died, or will ever reunite with a loved one like at the end of so many JRPGs. Instead we’re left with more literary questions — ones of morals and motivations, but how they reflect back upon ourselves in real life instead of just how they apply to the characters. The Last of Us can be taught in school, but in an English or ethics class, not like how Portal or StarCraft are sometimes taught in problem-solving courses.

You may have heard that the ending is controversial. No spoilers here, don’t worry. The ending is, as far as I can tell, one of the best game endings in how it fits the preceding story. Like the game before it, and everything you were ever forced to read in World Lit that you hated then but came to appreciate as you got older, the ending asks that you understand and subsequently allow the game to be about a character’s developmental journey, rather than the physical journey embarked upon throughout the game’s 15-20 hours.

It asks that you understand searching for items — depressingly plain items, like tape and bits of cloth — isn’t so you can craft makeshift weapons and bandages. It’s so the game can make you — in real life — excited about finding tape, and then asks that you think about just how a kind of life where finding a strip of tape is exciting must be, and to then apply that knowledge to the characters.

The Last of Us asks us to think in a way games generally don’t have us think. In BioShock Infinite, Irrational Games makes us think about the wacky time travel and alternate universes by directly explaining them. In TLOU, Naughty Dog loads the game full of things to make us think, then metaphorically hands us the controller, leans back in its chair, and silently smirks smugly to itself knowing all of those thought-inducing things will create a phenomenal, deep, engaging experience.

Unlike most — if not all — games, The Last of Us asks us not to care about it as a video game, but as an experience. As a video game, TLOU is one of the best games this generation. As an experience, as mentioned above, I’m not the only one wondering if it’s video game literature.